Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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www.BLUEANDGOLD.com SEPT. 24, 2022 27 NOTRE DAME'S RUNNING GAME FINALLY SHOWS UP Audric Estime and Chris Tyree knew what they were in for. The Notre Dame running back duo was a part of a maligned three-man committee in the first two weeks of the season. Estime ran 19 times for 44 yards against Ohio State and Marshall. Tyree carried 9 times for 45 yards. For a team that came into the season explicitly say- ing it was going to run the ball and it was going to do it with a sturdy rotation of backs, Notre Dame hadn't held its word through two weeks. Finally, the preseason vision man- ifested on the field in Week 3. And it occurred without Logan Diggs, who started feeling ill Thursday and was not able to play Saturday. Diggs only ran 11 times for 16 yards in the first two games, but his absence served as a wakeup call of sorts for Estime and Tyree to be a for- midable 1A and 1B tandem against Cal. They were. Estime ran 18 times for 76 yards and a touchdown. Tyree ran 17 times for 64 yards. They were also Notre Dame's top two pass catchers; Tyree had 5 snags for 44 yards and a score. Estime had 3 catches for 43 yards. A 36-yard Es- time catch and run set up Notre Dame's fourth-quarter go-ahead touchdown. Estime and Tyree — and Diggs, for that matter — were among the Irish's best players in fall camp. They weren't two of the team's top producers in losses to the Buckeyes and Thundering Herd. When Notre Dame desperately needed a win, the Irish received a boost from its backs. Just as the team intended all along. "Chris and Logan, we've been talking about breaking out, having a breakout game, all of us having over 100 yards together," Estime said. "Being able to do that, to fulfill a goal you set with your brothers, it's a surreal moment. "There is a lot more for this running back group with me, Chris and Logan." It might not have been coincidental it occurred while one of the three was sidelined. That's not to say Diggs isn't a quality player. He is. But offensive coor- dinator Tommy Rees had fewer mouths to feed. Tyree only had 12 touches through two weeks. He had 22 against Cal. In a game in which junior tight end Michael Mayer only caught 2 passes for 10 yards (albeit it one of those coming on the go- ahead touchdown), Notre Dame needed one of its other trusted playmakers to be a star. Sophomore wide receiver Lo- renzo Styles only had 3 catches for 29 yards. The shining star was Tyree, and that should be just the beginning of a stand- out junior season. "I never lost my confidence," Tyree said. "Every time I step on the field, it's about taking advantage of every op- portunity I get. Whether it's two, three, four, 20 [touches], I'm going to try my best to take advantage of every oppor- tunity I get. "Coming into this game, it was the same mentality. I try my best to do that, and we came out with the win." There was a deliberate emphasis on getting Tyree the ball that hadn't been there in Notre Dame's losses. That's not a coincidental phenomenon, either. Those things are correlated. When the Irish get Tyree the ball, good things happen. He harped on op- portunities. Notre Dame has nine more regular season games to get him in- volved. The more it does, the more likely it is to win. Not rocket science. Just common sense. A correlation. "In our minds it was like, 'Okay, we're going to have to ride the back of Chris and Audric right now,' and they both ran the ball really well," head coach Marcus Freeman said. NOTRE DAME RIDES SAME PLAY WITH ESTIME FOR KEY TOUCHDOWN The first one was just another play call. The second was a repeat in a sit- uation that justified it. The third and fourth? Those were the Notre Dame of- fense going into full try-and-stop-us mode. California did not do any stopping. Notre Dame scored the second of its three touchdowns in a 24-17 win over Cal — a 1-yard third-quarter run by sophomore running back Audric Estime — on the fourth of four straight identi- cal play calls. All were runs between the tackles with Estime as the ball carrier and 13 personnel (one receiver, three tight ends). CALIFORNIA GAME NOTES BY TYLER HORKA AND PATRICK ENGEL Junior running back Chris Tyree led the Irish with 22 touches for 108 yards from scrimmage and scored the team's first touchdown. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER